Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space

Member States conducting space launches have been requested by the Committee to provide the United Nations with information on their launchings. A registry of launchings has been maintained by the Secretariat since 1962, in accordance with General Assembly
resolution 1721 B (XVI), and information from Member States has been issued in United Nations documents in the A/AC.105/INF series. Since the
Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space entered into force in 1976, another register of launchings has been established for information received from Member States and intergovernmental organizations that are parties to the Convention.

As of 1 January 2011,
56 States have acceded/ratified, 4 have signed and two international intergovernmental organizations (European Space Agency and European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites) have declared their acceptance of the rights and obligations provided for in the Registration Convention. The information received in accordance with the Convention has been issued in United Nations documents in the ST/SG/SER.E series. The A/AC.105/INF series continues with information provided by States who are not party to the treaty. Approximately 93.5% of all functional space objects (satellites, probes/landers, manned spacecraft, space station components, etc) have been registered with the Secretary-General.

The Registration Convention provides that the launching State should furnish to the United Nations, as soon as practicable, the following information concerning each space object:

Name of launching State;

An appropriate designator of the space object or its registration number;

Date and territory or location of launch;

Basic orbital parameters, including:

Nodal period (the time between two successive northbound crossings of the equator - usually in minutes);

Under these arrangements information has been received from Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America and Venezuela as well as from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).

For an index of registration submissions by State of Registry, please click
here.

For notifications of the establishment on national registries by Parties to the Registration Convention, please click
here.

The Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space is available in the following languages and formats.